But what about the hate and the fear? The confusion and the pain, the frustration, desperation, hopelessness and boredom? The pessimism, the envy, the cold indifference, petty jealousies and those rayless retaliations that seem surely to ensue? The over-stimulation, the heartache of betrayal, the disappointment for the dreams, despite the best of efforts, that simply don’t come true?

It seems not
so matter-of-factly,
to boil down
to any one particular thing at all
but rather,
to a simmering
Gemeinschaft,
of myriad universal opportunities
to learn, about ourselves
in the mirror of common human ground,
like a good hearty chicken,
rice and vegetable soup,
made with heaps and gobs of…

hmmmmm…?

Let’s suppose,
that it may, even likely
after all,
just be…
the simple sentimental truth,
that all of this…
living,
does somehow, miraculously
reduce
to the undeniable
bonding energy, of love

Short of twenty
precious looming minutes
before the glowing, molten
orange daylight
bursts
upon a silvery twilit horizon,
beaming brilliant, sunny
mischievous morning cheer,
piercingly, raucously
pushing past
blackout shades and thick
burgundy velvet winter drapes,
onto this sacred, private moment
of lying
in the dark, in the silence
– breathing,
just breathing
before the peal of opening bells
and crushing pressure
to reach…
for starry fascinations of this busiest of minds
a slave, to checked boxes

Accomplishment
its own merciless trap,
pressure to produce
as though breathing the clean, crisp
autumn air
not nearly enough
to nourish this,
God’s masterpiece creation:
one man

Doing
and doing without pause
– uniquely American a cause,
of unchecked compulsion and capitalistic a sense of national duty

Kick! the bucket list far…
and out…
into the interstellar space of tranquility
beyond the moon
beyond the sun
beyond the Milky Way

To sit in solitude,
in peace,
without the merciless, imposing
squeeze of needing…
to experience everything
that strikes a mind’s fancy